diss P A 9 Z 1 1 
Book ,Pl 



Copq of tfie oldesr Known 
MAP OF PLAINFIELB. 

From an original in tfTe 
possession of w? M. STfflman. 
This copjj made Jan. 1901 by 

F.J Hubbard, 

Civic Engineer 
Plainfjcld, N.J. 



History 

•/ 

The First Presbyterian Church 

at 

Plainfield, New Jersey 

By ALLEN E. BEALS 



Commemorating the One Hundredth Anniversary of 
the founding and organization of 

The Presbyterian Church of Plainfield, New Jersey 
July 9th and 10th, 1825 



In kindly memory o-. 
Living and Departed Friends he has known in 

"The Church of Brotherly Love" 

this work is respectfully dedicated by 
its author 



GIFT 

AUTHOR 

r ~ "B * '2$ 



CONTENTS 

Subject Page 

Chapter I 

The Lord's Supper Beneath the Green Brook 
Trees i 

Chapter II 

What Came from Cordially Greeting a Stranger 7 
Chapter III 

"A Gloomy Box Inside and Out" 13 

Chapter IV 

How the "Anxious Seat" Issue Divided the Church 17 
Chapter V 

Sarah M. Latimer and "The Little Black Cross" . 21 
Chapter VI 

The Close of the First Century 27 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Earliest Known Map of Plainfield, 

New Jersey Front Cover Insert 

The Original Presbyterian Church 
Building in Plainfield Erected 

in 1826 Facing page v 

The First Presbyterian Church of 

185 5-1887 Facing page xiii 



The First Presbyterian Church of 
1888-1925 



Facing page xxiv 



Compiler's Note — This manuscript is submitted with profound reali- 
zation on the part of its author that it must be, of necessity (considering 
the circumstances under which it has been prepared), in some, if not many, 
respects unworthy of the subject with which it deals, namely, One Hun- 
dred Years of Influence in this Community of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Plainfield. Great indulgence is craved from those who may 
scan it with the eye of the literary critic. It has been the author's purpose 
to transform ordinarily dry and uninteresting dates and chronological 
sequence along the very thin line of pastorates by bringing out the human- 
interest touches, much as a narrative that might be recounted to a family 
grouped beside a homely fireplace with the subtle consciousness that former 
pastors and people are spiritually listening in as to a tale that is being told. 



Tuesday, September 8, 1925. 



A. E. B. 



The History of the First Presbyterian Church 
of Plainfield, New Jersey 

By Allen E. Beals 
CHAPTER I 

The Lord's Supper beneath the Green ^Brook Trees 

UR Blessed Lord, who supped beneath the Green Brook 
Trees with eighteen founders of the first Presbyterian 
Church in Plainfield, one hundred years ago, alone can know and 
trace the world-' round good their successive hosts have wrought. 

It long has passed the power and ken of human tongue or pen 
to fully cite the blessings that since have flowed beyond the clarion 
of its heralding or tolling bell ; and as the years begin to drape the 
mantle of antiquity about the sacred pile that more than half a thou- 
sand now look upon as their church home one cannot help but feel 
impotent adequately to trace the halo that pervades it much less 
to portray the symbolic setting that marked its modest birth. 

While Time has warped the pristine beauty of the spot where 
arching trees were rafters and greensward the carpet of the 
homeless flock, it has sublimely glorified the aspirations and the 
prayers of those who were the first Presbyterians to worship in 
their home church here, on that memorable Sabbath day, July 
10, 1825. 

Contemporary events alone convey to men and women of to- 
day a worthy conception of the times in which this event in the 
religious life of Plainfield occurred. 

John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States, 
had just entered office four months before, and the political feud 
between the President and Andrew Jackson, defeated in the cam- 
paign the preceding year, was just beginning to sweep the 
country. 

The Monroe Doctrine, promulgated in 1822, was still as- 
tounding the countries of Europe and the great dispute over the 
subject of slavery which was to eventuate in the Civil War forty 
years later, was fanned by the Missouri Compromise that sought 
to draw a geographical line of demarkation between the pro- 




1 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

slavery south and the anti-slavery north. People were just be- 
ginning to realize that the Mason-Dixon line, the result of a 
survey by Mason, a surveyor of the North and Dixon, a sur- 
veyor of the South, was, in fact, destined to be a power for divid- 
ing the nation against itself, and, filled with Biblical admonitions, 
churchmen were prophesying that the nation, no more than a 
house, could thus stand. 

The Village of Plainfield consisted of only sixty scattered 
buildings then. There was a stream of rather generous propor- 
tions that made its way from the Scotch Plains notch through the 
watercourse that is now not much more than a trickling rivulet, 
by comparison, and which we misname Green Brook. 

But then it broadened out into a pond that served to store up 
water power for a grist mill now between Watching Avenue and 
Somerset Street. This site was surrounded almost entirely by a 
grove of stately chestnut, oak and elm trees, save for a mossy 
place where the farmers of the country-side brought their grain 
to be ground into flour. 

On Sunday, July 10, 1825, this was the spot where the Presby- 
terian church in Plainfield first saw the light of day. 

On the day before, Saturday, July 9, 1825, according to the 
minutes of the Session, carefully preserved by John M. Bettman: 

"Agreeably to the appointment of the Presbytery of Eliz- 
abethtown, The Rev. John McDowell, D.D., and the Rev. 
Alexander G. Frazer, attended for the purpose of organ- 
izing a Presbyterian Church in this place/' 

At that time the following persons presented certificates and 
were recorded as the original eighteen founders of the Plainfield 
Presbyterian Church: 



William Sayre New Providence 

Anna, wife of William Sayre New Providence 

Elizabeth Littell New Providence 

Mrs. Sarah Layton Baskingridge 

John King • . Baskingridge 

Eliza, wife of John King Baskingridge 

Deborah, wife of Frederick Cadmus .... Bound Brook 

Dinah, wife of Cornelius Cadmus .... Bound Brook 

Elizabeth C. Vermeule Bound Brook 

Ruth P. Cook Newburgh 

Robert Anderson New Brunswick 



2 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



Agnes, wife of Robert Anderson New Brunswick 

Pierpont Potter . . Westfield 

Rebecca Manning Westfield 

Sarah, wife of Matthew A. Brown .... Westfield 

Conrad Neil .......... New York 

Lydia Gardiner Orange 

John Layton, Jr Bedminster 



At the same time Robert Anderson, proprietor of a dry goods 
store at the South East corner of Watchung Avenue and East 
Front Street and John Layton, Jr., u were set apart" to the offices 
of ruling Elders and Deacons whereupon "The Church of Plain- 
field" was declared to be duly organized, at 3 o'clock P. M., 
July 9, 1825. 

On the following Sabbath, (July 10th), the Rev. Dr. Mc- 
Dowell conducted the first known local service of Worship of 
Almighty God under the rules of the Presbyterian faith and 
"under the shade of the trees" there participated in the rites of 
The Lord's Supper after hearing Dr. McDowell preach from 
1 Corinthians 11:18: 

"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that 
bread and drink of that cup." 

On October 7th, 1825, the session minutes show that the con- 
gregation had increased to 23. 

Prior to these dates Presbyterians living in and near Plainfield 
were obliged to attend public worship in either Bound Brook or 
Westfield. There were no regular means of transportation be- 
tween the two communities. 

If a registered member of the church failed to attend regu- 
larly, to the services of public worship, he was reported to Ses- 
sion which waited upon the delinquent to ascertain why he or 
she did not attend or why he or she "turned the back upon the 
Lord's Table." 

It can easily be understood why, therefore, the growing com- 
munity of Plainfield, taking in as it did territory between Basking- 
ridge, Bound Brook, New Bunswick and Westfield, desired to 
have a Presbyterian church of its own, because the perils of 
travel in winter were great and in the summer, often most un- 
comfortable, especially for the aged. 

Scotch Plains was the metropolis of all this surrounding coun- 

3 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



try in those days, and even up to 1 840, until the railroad tracks 
were moved over to Fanwood, some years later, all mail was re- 
ceived and delivered to Plainfielders in Scotch Plains and public 
gatherings in the interest of Plainfielders were held in the Town 
Hall at that place. The City of Plainfield was not incorporated 
as a city until i860. 

Church services for the Presbyterian congregation were held in 
the Academy conducted by the Rev. Lewis Bond, which stood a 
few yards away from the present church property to the west, 
although in later years that name was given to another semi- 
public building that stood at what is now Arlington Avenue and 
Fourth Street. 

These services were conducted by the Rev. Lewis Bond, of 
whom first mention in the official Session minutes occurs under 
date of January 9th, 1826, when he was recorded as being the 
"Stated supply" and who, as such, acted at that meeting as moder- 
ator. It is evident, however, that he served the congregation as its 
leader shortly after the church was organized in 1825. He con- 
tinued as pastor until April, 1857, a total of 32 years during 
which time he received into membership nearly 500 persons, of 
whom 200 were received on certificates from other churches. He 
died January 23rd, 1885. 

During his long pastorate, 200 were dismissed to other 
churches, of whom 86 united in forming the Second Presbyterian 
church under the Presbytery of Newark. This church was, for a 
time, also located on Front Street. The Rev. William Whittaker 
was its first pastor serving until 1885. ^ later purchased the prop- 
erty at Crescent Avenue and "Broadway," that having been the 
name of Watchung Avenue above "Peace Street" which termi- 
nated at East Seventh Street. The First Presbyterian church 
also contributed largely in membership toward the founding of 
Trinity Reformed Church. 

Meeting sometimes in the Academy, and sometimes in the 
homes of its members, there soon arose great need for a regular 
house of worship. 

The congregation, as has been seen, was very small, none of 
them having means, probably, beyond their daily requirements, 
because we are told in some of the records available from the 
archives of the first pastor of this church, that while twenty-five 
years before there were only twenty houses in the village of Plain- 
field, there were, indeed, only sixty when the Presbyterian church 



4 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

in Plainfield was organized. At the time the map, which accom- 
panies this sketch, was made ( 1832), there were only 168 houses 
in the community and, in his quarter century sermon the Rev. 
Mr. Bond records the fact that as late as 1851 this number had 
been increased to only 400 dwellings, 8 churches and 15 store- 
houses. 

The same papers make record of the fact that the first frame 
house ever erected in Plainfield, noting the passing of the tent 
and log cabin habitations of the first settlers and Indians, was in 
1700 and there are authentic records to show that a part of this 
original first permanent shelter in this city was part of the John 
Wilson home. 

Prior to the organization of the Presbyterian church in Plain- 
field there had been no weekly prayer meetings nor had there 
ever been a Bible Class, much less a Sunday school. The popula- 
tion of Plainfield at the time our church was organized was 300, 
740 in 1832, and in 1850 it had increased to 2,000. 

The eight churches then supplying the spiritual needs of this 
community were able to join the first Pastor of this church in 
rejoicing in the fact that they could count one-half of the popula- 
tion as members of the Church of Christ. This was in great con- 
trast with the record of forty communicants in the Baptist church, 
twenty-three in the Presbyterian church and (not counting the 
membership of the Society of Friends) there totalled in all this 
church community, around 1825, from Westfield to Basking- 
ridge, Bound Brook, New Brunswick and Rahway, only a little 
over sixty professed disciples of Christ! 

Reference to the accompanying map will make it possible for 
the reader to picture the sparsely settled place that was destined 
to be the great industrial and residential community of nearly 
40,000 inhabitants living in Plainfield and North Plainfield to- 
ward the close of the first quarter of the twentieth century. In 
1832 it was really a thin line of small frame dwellings stretching 
the length of Front Street from Plainfield Avenue to a little be- 
yond Division Street, some few structures on "Cherry Street," 
now Park Avenue, some on Division Street, now Westervelt Ave- 
nue, and North Plainfield was not more than an equally thin line 
of dwellings for a block or two beyond the brook which was 
spanned by a rustic bridge beside which was a ford where the 
folks stopped to chat and trade over their carts while their horses 
refreshed themselves in the stream. 



5 



CHAPTER II 



What Came from Cordially Greeting a Stranger 

NE hundred years before the Presbyterian church in Plain- 
field was organized, or a span of years equalling those be- 
tween that event and the year to which we reverently pay homage, 
the first organized meeting of the orthodox Quakers was held at 
"Tow Town," later known as New Brooklyn, just outside of the 
present community of New Market. It is recorded that these 
meetings were held at the home of John Laing, forebear of the 
John Laing whose inn, famous in its day, stood upon the site 
of the Babcock building. He gave a plot on which to erect a 
meeting house on March 27, 1731 and the Woodbridge Monthly 
Meeting gave its permission to erect a building directing that it 
should not exceed "24 feet square and 14 feet between 'joynts.' " 
It was completed "and all accounts settled" by the latter part of 
1736. The larger plot, standing near the present railroad sta- 
tion was given and the Meeting House still standing was built 
in 1788. 

In thus giving a setting of the conditions surrounding the 
founding of our church and of the state of the community into 
which it was launched, it may not be inappropriate to note the 
sequence of the establishment of other early churches in this 
community : 

The Presbyterian church was the fourth, in this respect; the 
next organization following that of the Quakers being the Bap- 
tists, nearly one hundred years later, or in 18 18; the Methodist 
church in 1820, the Presbyterian in 1825, Seventh Day Baptist 
in 1838, Second Baptist church, in 1842; Second Presbyterian 
church (Crescent Avenue) in 1844; St. Mary's Roman Catholic 
church in 1849; Grace Episcopal church in 1852; Central Re- 
formed church 1863, which, however, became defunct in 1883; 
Mount Olive Baptist church 1870 (colored) ; German Reformed 
church, 1873; P ar k Avenue Baptist church, 1876; Church of 
Heavenly Rest, 1879. 

Trinity Reformed church and the Congregational church were 
formed between the years 1879 and 1880. 

The erection of the original Presbyterian church in this city 
brings to mind the circumstances under which the land came to 
be given and its dramatic sequence. 

7 




THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



There lived in Plainfield at the time a gentleman and a con- 
siderable land owner who, while not particularly interested in 
churches prior to his coming to Plainfield, had been cordially and 
graciously received in the ancestral Bond Manor, which stood on 
the present site of the City Hall. Feeling the welcoming influence 
of the quadruple row of trees, now marking East Seventh Street, 
having been the driveway leading up to the portico, he be- 
came interested in the school master and preacher and after 
the organization of the church under the Green Brook trees, 
came to the pastor of the flock with his wife, and offered their 
help, saying that they were willing to deed over to the Presby- 
terian church in Plainfield, "Meeting House Lot." 

Ample confirmation is to be found of this couple's gracious 
gift in the archives in the custody of the Register of Deeds, New- 
ark, New Jersey, which at the time was the seat for Union as 
well as Essex counties. 

There, under date of 1826 may be seen a transcript of the 
original deed, done in clear, bold handwriting, apparently with 
a quill pen, and, after the usual formalities of such documents, 
it proceeds to grant "forever, for the sole purpose of a Presby- 
terian Meeting House, Academy and Burying Ground, and no 
other, that lot of land known by the name of 'Meeting House 
Lot' situated in the Village of Plainfield in the township of 
Westfield," signed Matthias A. Brown and Sarah Ann Brown, 
his wife, dated February 5, 1826, and by Caleb Freeman, Jarvis 
B. Ayres, Frederick Cadmus, John King and the Trustees of 
the Presbyterian church in Plainfield. This instrument was duly 
attested May 11, 1826 before John Woodruff, "Commissioner 
for taking Acknowledgments." 

The years slowly doled out their meed of fortune, fair as well 
as ill, and in the course of time fate weaved a pathetic web of 
want around the benevolent gentleman of earlier years. Among 
the few stores of that day doing business in Plainfield, that of 
Drs. John and Lewis Craig, druggists, for whom the North 
Plainfield street was named, is memorable as the shelter of the 
man whose generosity made permanent the location of our 
church. 

Upon this site was erected a frame church of which the only 
graphic likeness so far known to be in existence is on the Map 
of 1832, accompanying this sketch. The famed academy later 

8 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



had its location in the basement of the church and among its 
pupils were James E. Martine, former U. S. Senator from New 
Jersey, William H. Shotwell, Abraham L. Cadmus and other 
prominent Plainfielders of their time. 

It was a white frame church with a steeple that barely sur- 
mounted the stately trees about it, with green shingles, probably 
the result of being much in the shade. 

The little church, compared with the present edifice, stood far 
back on the property, probably at about the line where the pres- 
ent church building stops and the chapel begins. Its construc- 
tion must have been largely the result of labor contributed by 
its members. 

Just before the excavation work began upon the construction 
of the church of 1855, the frame church which had been dedi- 
cated in 1827 (not 1837 as most histories give it) after consider- 
able and unavoidable delays, as the pastor said in his dedicatory 
sermon, "because of much embarrassment occasioned by our in- 
fant state," there being then only twenty-seven in communion, 
"was moved across the tracks." 

The labor that must have been expended upon this church, 
simple in architectural appearance though it was, can be con- 
ceived only by realizing that in those days planing mills and mass 
production of structural parts of building were unknown and 
little dreamed of. All house building of any kind was framed 
with hand-hewn timber, braced by hand-wrought girdles of iron 
to hold the supporting beams in place. 

The building before removal was cut in two and thus removed 
to a site that is now a coal yard near the corner of East Fourth 
Street and Roosevelt Avenue. About seven years ago, they were 
again moved, this time to their present location at 326 and 328 
East Fourth Street, across the street, where they face the rail- 
road track and can be plainly seen by any interested passenger on 
trains going to or coming from New York. 

No. 328 is still dedicated to church uses, and is occupied as 
a Manse by the pastor of the congregation known as The Church 
of God and the Saints of Christ, the place of worship having 
been erected in the rear of this building. 

No. 326 is the best preserved of the two structures, however, 
and is used as a dwelling, being now owned by the occupant. 
When the two buildings were removed to this site, a single build- 

9 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



ing then standing there was cut in two and the two halves were 
attached to the two halves of the old church, for purposes of 
providing kitchens. 

In the attic of No. 326 there are eloquent testimonials to this 
day of the reasons for the delay in the completion of the original 
building as referred to by the Rev. Mr. Bond. 

There, in the subdued light, one might almost say, hallowed 
by sacred memories and loving, albeit, sweaty toil of the sturdy 
parishioners of 1826, the spectator stands amazed at the patience 
and the evident determination of those early Presbyterians to 
found their church in Plainfield for all time. Black walnut beams 
and girders, bear mute, but impressive, evidence of the labor 
that must have been expended with crude, half-tempered adzes 
and home-made mauls to cut and trim and fit these sustaining 
timbers so that down the long decades they might bid successful 
defiance to the destroying agencies of Time. 

It would be irreverent for us to turn this page of history upon 
the little white Presbyterian church at Plainfield without quoting 
at least in part, the sermon delivered on January 5th, 185 1, by 
the venerable pastor of this people, a sermon which has been 
preserved in the historical archives of the State of New Jersey 
as one of the masterpieces of eloquence and of historical fact. 
(See Pamphlets N. J. Vol. VIII, File No. N-040; N-42, New- 
ark, N. J.) 

From First Samuel, 12: 24: "Only fear the Lord, and serve 
Him with all your heart; for consider how great things He 
hath done for you," he took his text. 

Reviewing the historical events that had transpired up to that 
time he said: "But while we mingle in the universal mourning at 
the death of Washington, we may still rejoice in the possession 
of that Liberty, which, under his guidance, with the Blessing of 
God, our fathers had achieved." 

But the following extract from the minister's far famed elo- 
quence, the lofty flights of his oratory, pathos, prophecy and 
importunity for a continuance of the great effort enjoined upon 
all mankind to forget "those things which are behind, and reach- 
ing forth unto those things which are before," to "press toward 
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus 
Christ," stands forth without question as the clearest glimpse 
we of this day and generation can have of the qualities that 



10 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

bound his people so affectionately to him for nearly a third of a 
century : 

"The memory of our kindred, the low whisper of our 
departed people, invite us to cast one more lingering look 
at the silent mansions of the dead. 

"There lie entombed nearly 200 of our flock. Age, Activ- 
ity, Youth and Infancy lie slumbering together. Over these 
the storms may rage and the thunder roll, but they heed 
them not. Over these may gather the tumult of the busy 
throng, and the shrill whistle or the rolling car may pierce 
the skies, but they shall not awake. Over these, the church- 
going bell may announce the sacred morn, and the songs of 
Zion sound loud the joyous day, but they may not come 
hither. Others shall be added to their number, and the sigh 
of the mourner mingle with the clods of the valley, but these 
shall still sleep sweetly. 

"They count not the revolving years nor note the pass- 
ing centuries; nor will they regard 'till time shall be no 
longer.' Then shall they listen to the Tramp of God. Then 
shall they startle into Life 'and burst the caverns of the 
grave. Then shall they take on immortality.' Then shall 
the living be changed in a moment; in the twinkling of an 
eye. Then shall all nations be gathered before the throne of 
God. Then and there must He appear and then and there 
shall be melded in eternity. 

"Let us then arise and 'serve the Lord in truth and with 
a perfect heart.' Let us labor and pray that this house may 
be evermore 'The House of God, the Gate of Heaven' that 
here the closest blessings of His Grace may be shed down 
on us and on our children; that our land may be Immanuel's 
Land and the whole world be full of His Glory." 



11 




The First Presbyterian Church 185 5- 1877 



CHAPTER III 



"<zA Gloomy ^Box Inside and Out" 

ICTURES of "the church of 1855" are extremely rare. 
The only one known to be in existence was quite accidentally 
discovered to be in the possession of Elder and Mrs. A. V. Sear- 
ing, Jr., who kindly loaned it for its reproduction in that history. 

It has been referred to as "A gloomy box inside and out" and 
the reasons for this characterization of the house of worship of 
that day is amply confirmed by the architectural features of the 
edifice, which, let it be remembered, was in strict compliance 
with the tendency of the time to enshroud religion and things re- 
ligious with the gloom of darkness and the dead, rather than 
the radiancy of the light of joy and the completeness of Christ in 
life. 

The church stood on the lot almost to the sidewalk line, abreast 
of the front of the J. B. Coward house adjoining to the east. It 
was built of brick plastered with brown mortar, ruled into squares 
about 9 by 15 inches so as to give the appearance as having been 
erected of brownstone. Surmounting the building was a rather 
stubby latticed tower into which the bell, which hung in the origi- 
nal frame church, was placed and which, by the way, is still 
calling worshipers to service as it did when the first pastor of the 
church preached to the congregation. It is thus the only articu- 
late voice that links the congregation of 641 today with that of 
the 166 devout communicants who crowned their valiant con- 
struction efforts in 1827 with the opening service of praise and 
prayer when the little white church was completed. 

The building had a peak roof, was about forty-five feet high, 
and its entrance was in the middle with two huge masonry but- 
tresses on either side to take up the remainder of the building's 
width. Two Ionic columns of brown stone to match the ma- 
sonry graced either side of the entrance and as one entered 
they faced at once the main aisle at the head of which was the 
communion table, standing upon a dais about seven inches from 
the floor and above it, raised from the floor by about thirty inches, 
stood the pulpit. 

Looking from the pulpit one saw the gallery where the colored 
worshipers sat, they having access to their seats by circular stair- 
ways built on each side of the entrance up through the masonry 

13 




THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



buttresses. A large gilt circular clock, given by Robert H. Rad- 
ford, had a place on the face of the balcony directly opposite the 
pulpit. The lighting was accomplished by gas and emergency 
kerosene lamps. 

Natural illumination, however, was through long narrow win- 
dows on either side of the church. These windows were about 
twenty-four inches wide and the lights were made up of a great 
number of small panes of glass each about five inches square. The 
windows were bowed at the top and on the outside there were 
full length shutters running from the floor level to the roof. 

When the sun shone through the clear glass windows too 
brightly, as it is even wont to do today, the ushers would be asked 
to go out and close the shutters. 

This would result in the removal of two long poles from their 
recesses at the entrance near where Howard A. Pope and W. A. 
Woodruff were wont to sit for years as ushers, each taking two 
windows they would proceed to slap and poke the shutters closed, 
amid much clatter, especially in summer when the windows were 
opened for ventilation. 

The expression that the church was "gloomy within and with- 
out" has its chief foundation in that when the shutters were 
closed the black walnut trim of the interior of the church re- 
flected so little light that at times it was difficult to read. How- 
ever, most of the singing at the time was done by the congre- 
gation by the aid of a melodeon and a singing leader. Regular 
meetings were held for the purpose of learning the words of the 
hymns. 

Those who could afford them, however, owned their own 
singing books and cushions and when they left the church by dis- 
missal or otherwise, they took their hymn books and cushions 
with them for use in the churches to which they were transferred. 

The seats were extremely narrow and straight backed. Miss 
Dietrich remembers an incident that gives an excellent idea of 
how uncomfortable the church pews were at that time. It seems 
that a Mrs. Milliken joined the church and in order to more com- 
pletely enjoy the service, caused to be made for her an excep- 
tionally wide cushion which, when it continued to slip off the pew 
onto the floor at prayer, finally had it nailed fast to the pew 
seat. 

Each pew had a door with a catch upon it so that it would not 
swing open and encumber persons passing up and down the aisle. 

14 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



The purpose of the doors is variously explained. Some insist 
that it was for the purpose of keeping the draft from the feet of 
the worshipers in winter. Others said that it indicated that the 
pew seats were reserved for belated members of the families. 
Pews were often sold and deeded to their owners for life use. 
Still others maintain that the real object of the door was to sym- 
bolize the Biblical admonition, Matthew 6 :6 : 

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and 
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is 
in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret shall reward 
thee openly." 

The pastor's study was on the side of the church now used by 
the choir for assembly purposes and on the opposite side was a 
great heater the chimney for which ran up the rear wall of the 
church on the outside, about at the edge of the platform in the 
Sunday school room where, it will be recalled, there is a recessed 
arch in the face of the wall. 

In course of time the chapel was added to the church, but it is 
not shown in the picture. When the chapel was added, the chim- 
ney seemed out of place. It left an awkward vacancy in the wall 
and so it was decided to build a counterpart of the chimney on 
the other side and the arch was put in so as to bridge the two 
structures and at the same time the wall above it was carried up 
to give added support to the roof of the chapel. Across this arch 
was formerly a motto, cut out and pasted, which read : 
"Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only." 

An ordinary crockery bowl, held by an elder, served as the 
baptismal font for years. 

One Fourth of July eve some youths bent upon proclaiming 
anew the continued and successful independence of the United 
States of America, broke into the church and made the very welkin 
ring above the sleeping town until by dint of too great effort to ac- 
complish their purpose, they swung the bell so that its lip caught 
under the mechanism controlling the tolling hammer, thus effect- 
ually silencing it while the drowsy populace hazily wondered 
what dire punishment had been so promptly meted out to the 
perpetrators of the tumult, with the nation's birthday still unborn. 

The sexton, seeking to summon the people to their accustomed 
place of worship the following Sunday, pulled first on the ring- 

15 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

ing rope and then on the tolling line, only to find both inflexible 
in his hands. Climbing into the belfry he saw, with consterna- 
tion, the bell swung back as if to ring, but silent in the iron grip 
his feeble hands could not unloose, and so it came to pass that 
on that day those who went to church did so from sturdy habit 
instead of being bidden by the customary summoning bell. 



16 



CHAPTER IV 



How the "^-Anxious Seat" Issue divided the Church 

HERE came about this time experiences which must have 
sorely tried the pastor's soul and caused the gravest appre- 
hension among many of the congregation as to whether the Pres- 
byterian Church of Plainfield would survive. 

After protracted negotiation a section of the church departed 
to form the Second Presbyterian church, which later became the 
Crescent Avenue Presbyterian church. 

The First church then had 230 communicants and the Session 
minutes show that indeed it had been richly blessed "with refresh- 
ings from the presence of the Lord." 

During this period the question, probably inspired by frequent 
revival meetings held in the city, arose, regarding the installation 
of the Anxious Seats in the Presbyterian church. It might here 
be explained that the Anxious Seats were the front pews of the 
auditorium and whenever any member attending public worship, 
felt especially moved by the words of the pastor or by the Spirit 
they would leave their places in the pews and move up forward 
as a sign that they desired to be especially prayed for. 

To this proposal the Rev. Mr. Bond was unalterably opposed; 
but some of the people, stirred by a deep religious fervor, 
launched a movement not only for the purpose of establishing 
another Presbyterian church, but of forcing the pastor, the Rev. 
Mr. Bond, to resign. 

There came a time when Mr. Bond actually handed in his 
resignation as pastor. It was accepted and referred to the Pres- 
bytery of Elizabeth Town, but in view of the fact that the resig- 
nation had been acted upon by members of the church and by 
Elders who had already been dismissed from the church on their 
own application for the purpose of establishing another Presby- 
terian church in Plainfield, the Rev. Mr. Bond held that its accept- 
ance was unconstitutional, unauthorized and therefore illegal, a 
position which the Presbytery of Elizabeth Town subsequently 
upheld. 

On February 16, 1844, another Parish meeting was author- 
ized and, upon due notice being given that it was the intention of 
the applicants for dismissal to organize another church, the 

17 




THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



dismissals were granted to the following as a means of avoiding 
litigation : 



William L. Simpson 
William Hendrickson 
Ira Pruden 
James Thorn, Jr. 
Daniel P. Martin 
Frederick Cadmus 
William McD. Coriell 
Henry A. Cory 
Isaac Van Nostrand 
Leonard Vermeule 
Elias Kirkpatrick 
Albert Marsh 
Richard Townsend 
John S. Parker 
Josiah Layton 
Daniel Bullman 
J. H. Coward 
Jinnette E. Martin 
William B. Hill 
Harry Harris 
Caroline Hill 
Phebe E. E. Coward 
Deborah C. Coward 
William B. Shotwell 
David Pound 
Christopher Stewart 
Mary Thorn 



Charlotte Martin 
Jane V. Clawson 
Mary B. Clawson 
Nancy B. Southard 
Agnes Anderson 
Eliza Anderson 
Mary A. Shotwell 
Agnes Anderson, Jr. 
Mrs. Hariett H. Cory 
Mrs. Sarah Layton 
John L. Heath 
Sophonia M. Heath 
Sarah M. Campbell 
Hannah Staats 
Altha M. Marsh 
Elsey Vermeule 
Phebe Marsh 
Zupporah R. Irven 
Mary Hendrickson 
Margaret Hendrickson 
Henrietta Hendrickson 
Mary C. Van Kirk 
Harriett Van Kirk 
William Nicoll 
William Thorn 
Milton F. Cushing 
Fanny Cushing 



Elizabeth Pound 
Sarah Coriell 
Eliza Jane Vermeule 
Harriett Townsend 
Elizabeth Boice 
Abraham Cadmus 
Anna Cadmus 
Jenetie Cadmus 
Eleanor Cadmus 
John L. Laing 
Elisha Coriell, Jr. 
Eliza Coriell 
Martha H. Coon 
Martha E. Woodruff 
Ann Martin 
Ann B. Bullman 
Margaret Barton 
Eliza Jane Ditmas 
Sarah Ditmas 
Eliza C. Coriell 
Eunice V. Van Nostrand 
Frederick H. DeCamp 
William Wilberson 
David Whyte, Sr. 
David Whyte, Jr. 
Jane Whyte 
Elizabeth Whyte 



The requests were also granted of Robert Anderson, John 
Layton, Jr., Ephraim Coriell and William Hill, Jr., who were 
dismissed, their letters "stating that the applicants were mem- 
bers of this church and as such dismissed." 

The remainder left in the original Presbyterian church was 
148, and from that time the church had its serious struggles, 
finally resulting in the application previously made to the New 
Jersey State Legislature, for a change in the corporate title re- 
corded March 28, 1826, as "The First Presbyterian Church and 
Congregation of Plainfield, New Jersey," to that of "The First 
Presbyterian Church of Plainfield, N. J." This change in name 
was approved March 27, 1857. 

18 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



But during these years the same calm, dignified, kindly pastor 
went his way in the community. Those who remember him 
speak of his infinite patience and of his exemplary life. For 
nearly thirty-two years he was the leader of his flock. Slight in 
build, gentle of voice, he was always immaculately attired in the 
ministerial frock coat of the day and the white stock forming 
both collar and scarf. 

Two years after the separation and the new church building 
had gotten well under way, he gave notice to the Session of his 
intention to ask leave to resign his Pastoral Charge, and on May 
2 1 st, 1857, the Session records the calling of the Rev. Joseph 
H. Myers to take his place. 

It is interesting to note that when the Rev. Lewis Bond relin- 
quished his charge there were only two members of his church 
still numbered among the founders of his church. 

The Rev. Lewis Bond's picture is still reverently preserved 
by this congregation, having a place of honor in the Chapel. 
Some of his sermons have been preserved by his grandson, Clar- 
ence E. Bond. 

The Manse of our church then stood directly across the street 
from the present edifice, where the Young Women's Christian 
Association Building is just being completed. The original build- 
ing, however, now stands around the corner on Church Street, 
next adjoining the Y. W. C. A., where it was moved, and has 
been considerably altered to meet modern dwelling requirements. 
Later the church owned a manse on East Fifth Street, which was 
sold to aid the building fund for improvements to the present 
chapel. 

This minute appears in the Session records of March 8, 1885 : 

"In recognition of the death on January 23, 1885 of the 
Rev. Lewis Bond, for 32 years Pastor of this church, the 
Session desires to record its sense of his sterling character 
and worth as a Christian and a Gospel Minister, his long 
life of fidelity and usefulness, his tranquil and Godly walk 
and conversation, his unabated interest in the church, his 
peaceful death in the Lord as the Lord's." 

The new church building was completed and dedicated during 
the pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Myers, who resigned within two 
years of his call to found a college in Florida. 



19 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



The next minister was the Rev. Samuel M. Studdiford, who 
was installed in i860, but who, after a brief pastorate was called 
to the Presbyterian church at Stewartsville, New Jersey, and in 
1862 the Rev. Daniel V. McLean was called. 

His pastorate was inaugurated with much enthusiasm and 
closed with circumstances which resembled in some degree the 
difficulties the congregation passed through when the Second 
Presbyterian church was formed, except that it contributed 
largely, in this case, to the formation of Trinity Reformed 
church, there being some question as to the legality of dismissing 
some forty members after he had resigned as pastor. Those 
who remember him recall that he was of a dynamic turn of mind, 
impetuous, fiery and yet a magnetic man who conceived for our 
church a militant place in the exposition of the Christian life. 

A new pastor again occupied the pulpit in 1863 when the Rev. 
Benjamin Cory of Perth Amboy was called. He stayed between 
four and five years, during which time the church prospered and 
the membership increased greatly. He was in every respect a 
most charming and popular preacher. His daughter was mar- 
ried in the church during Mr. Cory's pastorate. Mr. Cory's 
wife was a member of the well-known Crane family of Elizabeth. 
He was called elsewhere and resigned early in 1868. 

The Rev. Henry L. Teller, young, eloquent, polished, and 
an earnest Christian worker, became pastor as successor to the 
Rev. Mr. Cory, but resigned within two years of his being called 
to go to the Amsterdam, N. Y., Presbyterian church. His wife, 
who was wealthy in her own right, did not fancy the life of a 
minister's wife and soon induced her husband to give up the 
ministry. 



20 



The First Presbyterian Church 1888 — 1925 



CHAPTER V 



Sarah M. Latimer and the "Little Black Cross" 

HE present church edifice stands as the monument to the 
personality and activity of the Rev. Kneeland P. Ketcham 
as the leader of this congregation from 1871 until March 13, 
1902. 

The Rev. Mr. Ketcham was called from Allentown, New 
Jersey, a settlement located near the present town of Bridgeton. 
He was a man of vision and action, energetic and with a per- 
sonality that inspired great confidence and cooperation. 

In the strange working out of God's plans it was not intended 
that the then pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Plain- 
field, just entering upon the second half of his long pastorate, 
should know that the business success of a non-believing cotton 
shipper from South Carolina would be the indirect source from 
which the physical monument of his ministry in Plainfield would 
rise even before his leadership was to end. 

Yet the story of the remarkable life of Henry Latimer, proud 
of his disbelief in the Christian church, is not only entwined 
about the First Presbyterian church of Plainfield, but successive 
generations who shall gaze upon the little cross that tops the 
steeple will know that it is 1 there because of him. 

Born in poverty in the Carolina cotton fields, Henry Latimer 
as a boy took ship on a boat that was bringing cotton to New 
York at a time when there was a boom in that staple. The first 
time he arrived in the great metropolis, he bought himself a new 
hat and some clothes. 

Earning his passage back and later coming north again with 
another shipment of cotton, he induced the captain to let him buy 
a bale. His earnings, great because of the boom, were quickly 
turned into the purchase of several more bales on the next trip 
north and the result was that in a short time he was operating a 
fleet of cotton-carrying boats for himself and finally directed the 
shipment north of great quantities of cotton so that in compara- 
tively early life he was enabled to retire. 

By some strange coincidence Mr. and Mrs. Latimer, the 
latter formerly Sarah M. Stocking, of Kentucky, selected Plain- 
field as their home and by a still stranger coincidence, in the light 
of the part this couple were later to play in the affairs of the 

21 




THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



First Presbyterian church, they moved into a home on Bank Place 
within stone's throw of the very spot where the first church ser- 
vice of that congregation was held on the brink of what for years 
was known as Tier's pond. They later built a home on the cor- 
ner of Bank Place and East Front Street near where now stands 
the Strand theatre. 

As has been stated, Mr. Latimer did not believe in churches, 
but he is reported to have given an organ to the Masonic fra- 
ternity of this city. 

At the time of his death his wife, desiring to have someone 
conduct the funeral services, called in the pastor of the church 
"up the street" and the Rev. Mr. Ketcham responded, conduct- 
ing the services also at the grave. 

This was the first time the Latimer family ever came in con- 
tact with the Christian church, according to Miss Addie Dietrich, 
who was intimately acquainted with Mrs. Latimer, the two fam- 
ilies being very closely associated as neighbors and friends. 

Mr. Latimer's death, and the loss of their adopted son, David, 
in the Civil War caused Mrs. Latimer to reach out for the con- 
solation of the church and when Mr. Ketcham called to comfort 
her in her affliction, Mrs. Latimer asked what she could do to 
aid him in realizing the aspirations he had for the enlargement 
of the influence of his church in Plainfield. 

Upon hearing that the church had decided to build a new edi- 
fice, she volunteered to give the necessary amount needed to com- 
plete the contributions which had already begun to come in from 
the members of the congregation, which had grown to a total of 
268, not including the membership of the Bible Class, totalling 
190 in addition. 

Her gifts embraced $32,000 for the church, $6,000 for the 
organ which, plus $2,000 received by the sale of the old one, 
cost $8,000. Gifts for finishing the church and special purposes 
brought the total of Mrs. Latimer's gifts to the church, so far 
as known, to $44,000, which also included the beautiful stained 
glass circular window in the front of the edifice. 

Two incidents are sufficiently authenticated in connection with 
Mrs. Latimer's benefactions as to merit inclusion in a History 
of the Presbyterian Church of Plainfield. One concerns the cir- 
cular stained glass window and the other the little cross that sur- 
mounts the steeple. 

J. M. Bettman and the pastor of the church believed, with the 

22 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



members of the congregation, that some tribute should be made 
to Mrs. Latimer's generosity either in the form of a stained glass 
window or a tablet. To all proposals of this sort the modest 
widow of the cotton trader entered objections. She desired that 
her gifts be received in as great secrecy as possible. 

The building committee consisting, besides the pastor and Mr. 
Bettman, of Robert H. Radford, William H. Shotwell, Edward 
St. John, Howard A. Pope and F. C. Lounsbury, believed that 
at least some record should be made of this gracious woman in 
the structure she so freely helped to build. It was decided that 
the manufacturer of the stained glass window be appealed to in 
some way to work in her name, and those desiring to see the 
artist's handicraft in this particular need may look on the selvedge 
of the window near where it enters the frame on the central edge. 

Mrs. Latimer did not live to see the church entirely com- 
pleted. Toward the completion of the structure, however, she 
was taken in a wheel chair, accompanied by J. Fred MacDon- 
ald, who, with William H. Shotwell and William A. Woodruff 
were later named executors of her estate, to the site. She sat on 
the platform with Mrs. N. W. West, another generous con- 
tributor toward the building fund, when the corner stone was laid. 

During the course of conversation on the way back, Mr. Shot- 
well, not knowing about the inscription of her name on the 
window, again pressed her for permission to place her name 
somewhere on the church or in it. 

After some thought on the subject, and when she had been 
placed in a comfortable chair in her home, she spoke of her hus- 
band saying that the only reference of a sympathetic nature she 
had ever heard him make to a Christian church was the fact that 
once when he was a little boy on the cotton plantations he had 
gone to a Sunday school on which there was a little black cross. 
Mrs. Latimer then said, in the presence of all three men who 
had walked back with her from the church site, that if they in- 
sisted upon doing something in memory of her that, in remem- 
brance of this remark by her husband, they put a little black cross 
on the top of the church. 

After her death, which occurred very soon thereafter, the 
Executors, who proved to be the three men who heard her make 
the remark, advised the church, through its finance committee, 
which included the Pastor, Elders, Deacons and Trustees, and 
F. C. Lounsbury, W. H. Van Slyke and Peter Hoagland, that 



23 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



a little black cross had to be included in the architecture of the 
church as a condition of the payment of the remainder of Mrs. 
Latimer's benefactions. 

Reporting this to the congregation, some protest developed 
from a small section of the membership, upon the ground that 
a cross of whatever color was out of place upon a Presbyterian 
church. The position of the Executors could, of course, be only 
that of "No cross, no money." 

It was finally decided to put the cross on the top of the steeple 
and, while there was some quiet mumbling, it soon caused little 
comment and few finally noticed that it was there. 

At about noon time one extremely hot day in July when the 
interest in the cross had entirely waned, a puffy white cloud came 
out of the west in what otherwise was a clear sky. It proved to 
be a little shower with only a single flash of lightning, but that 
bolt struck off the little black cross and tumbled it in fragments 
upon the church yard below. 

At once there was a vigorous renewal of the discussion about 
the propriety of having the cross on the church, but when the 
Executors, who had long since settled up the estate, paying the 
residue to two nephews who lived somewhere in Kentucky, were 
appealed to it was their insistence upon keeping faith with the 
only stipulation Mrs. Latimer made in connection with her great 
gifts, and, further, upon the continued importunities of the church 
people she benefited, that a little black cross should be replaced 
upon the steeple, which was accordingly done. 

Again the cross incident had passed into mutual forgetfulness 
when, again, also on a July day, and at noon, another small puffy 
cloud came over the low lying Watchung mountains and, during 
the shower that followed, a single forked flash from its curling 
center again, removed the cross without doing any other damage 
to the building. 

This time the objection to the presence of the) cross was based 
upon the belief that, lightning having struck twice in the same 
place, was most certainly a manifestation of the displeasure of 
Providence and that the cross should not be replaced. 

However, after due course, the cross again appeared at the 
top of the steeple, and while the tower has been struck since by 
lightning, the cross has remained to this day, having lately been 
substituted by a copper cross of sturdy construction. 

24 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



It is interesting to record at this point some other incidents 
and facts concerning the erection of this church. 

On June 6, 1888, a special meeting was held by the Session 
when it was decided to call a Parish meeting for the purpose of 
building, if the way be clear, a new church. On June 19, 1888, 
the building committee appointed Oscar S. Teale, architect, who 
now lives in the city of Newark. 

J. W. Pangborn was the builder who submitted a bid of 
$26,900 for the construction of the building and the contract 
was awarded to him. The records of the Session under date of 
September 16, 1888, show that the building, including the organ 
and every appurtenance, cost about $45,000. The entire church 
building was appraised by John Abbott, of the Board of Trus- 
tees, before the Great War, for the purpose of determining how 
much insurance the congregation ought to carry on the property, 
at $100,000. Mr. Abbott was a practical builder. 

The contributors to the church building fund were as follows : 



Sarah M. Latimer 
William R. Anthony 
J. W. Anthony 
John Barr 
J. M. Bettman 
Theophilus Bond 
Miss Kate Bond 
Aaron Berkaw 
Sallie Butcher 
Rutgers V. Cadmus 
Abraham L. Cadmus 
Elisha Coriell 
Mrs. D. Chase 
Mrs. J. W. Craig 
John Dietrich 



Mrs. Forbes 
Peter Hoagland 
Alvin E. Hoagland 
Rev. K. P. Ketcham 
Mrs. Fanny Ketcham 
Isaac L. Miller 
Miss Meig 

Mrs. Charles McCutcheon 
Miss Jane Petrie 
Mrs. Petrie 
Howard A. Pope 
R. H. Radford 
A. G. Remsen 
Henry W. Rogers 
Carrie Runyon 



R. J. Shaw 
William H. Shotwell 
Freeman J. Shotwell 
A. V. Shotwell 
J. Augustus Smith 
Edward St. John 
J. W. Schenck 
J. Evarts Tracy 
W. H. Van Slyke 
William Van Winkle 
Miss Vanderweg 
Mrs. N. W. West 
C. J. Westervelt 
J. M. White 



The new church was dedicated with special services on the 
evenings of June 25th and 28th, 1889. The services on June 
25th were conducted by the Pastor, the Rev. Kneeland P. 
Ketcham, the dedicatory sermon being preached by the Rev. 
Charles L. Thompson, D.D., of New York City. 

The services on June 28th were conducted by the Rev. W. L. 
Richards, pastor of the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian church, 
with addresses by the Rev. D. J. Yerkes, pastor of the First Bap- 
tist church; Rev. Erskine M. Rodman, rector of Grace Episcopal 

25 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

church; Rev. Cornelius Schenck, pastor of Trinity Reformed 
Church; Rev. Charles L. Goodrich, pastor of the Congrega- 
tional church, and Rev. Asa R. Dilts. There were also addresses 
by James McGee, C. W. McCutcheon and William D. Murray. 

The official seating capacity of the church building is 900 and 
every seat was occupied during these services, for the church, 
with its inclined auditorium with seats arranged fan like and 
radiating from the pulpit, was then a distinct architectural 
novelty. 

The design of the church was similar to the Methodist Episco- 
pal church at Hackettstown, which also was designed by Oscar S. 
Teale, architect, and many Plainfielders passing through the main 
street of that Warren county city stop to compare the architec- 
tural face of the edifice there with that in Plainfield. Howard A. 
Pope, William H. Shotwell and John M. Bettman were the com- 
mittee sent to Hackettstown to view that church and upon their 
recommendation the design of the Plainfield church was made 
like it, but modified in some respects, to conform to local condi- 
tions, particularly as to lot width. 

Dr. Ellis W. Hedges was organist for a great many years and 
A. V. Searing, Jr., and Edward Petrie were for many years offi- 
cial organ pumpers. 

One time when an eminent organist from New York came 
out to give a recital he brought with him a device that oper- 
ated a dozen-odd pedals at once so as to produce climactic vol- 
ume, and the frantic efforts of the young organ pumpers to keep 
the instrument supplied with air, and thus not to spoil the concert, 
resulted in great physical fatigue between the two assistants of 
the organist and an hour or two of incidental wonderment as to 
what sort of a many-handed and footed "monster" sat at the 
console. 

On March 13, 1892, Dr. Ketcham applied for a dissolution 
of the pastoral relation and on July 6, 1892, a call was extended 
to and accepted by the Rev. Henry L. Miller. 

It was, however, destined for him never to become the actual 
pastor of the church, because just while preparations were being 
made to receive him and he had moved his household effects to 
Plainfield, Mr. Miller's wife was taken critically ill and he de- 
clined the call on that account. 



26 



CHAPTER VI 



The Close of the First Century 

N October 20, 1892, a call was extended to the Rev. Charles 
E. Herring, of New York City, where he had been ordained 
to the ministry by the Presbytery of that city, January 19, 1888, the 
same year, it is pleasant to note that the church that he was des- 
tined to serve as pastor for 29 years, was built. He received 
the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy from Columbia University 
in 1887, and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from New York 
University in 1907; but the honor that he most craved, but reso- 
lutely awaited for it to be honorarily conferred, namely, that of 
Doctor of Divinity, was received by his widow, Alice Miller 
Herring, a few days after his death at Muhlenberg Hospital, 
Plainfield, May 26th, 1921, he having been stricken while preach- 
ing his usual sermon Sunday morning, May 15th, at 11:40 
o'clock. 

This incident was one of the most tragic in the history of this 
church. It was a bright sunshiny Spring morning and the church 
was well filled when, after greeting the children in Sunday school 
as was his wont before entering the pulpit, the congregation 
assembling for worship saw him in his pulpit as usual. 

No hint of anything amiss occurred until, after being well 
started upon his sermon, the text of which was "Moses, my ser- 
vant, is dead," he paused and said: 

"I cannot go on with the sermon. It is all right." When, in 
sinking to his chair, he said to the treasurer of the church, Howard 
W. Satterfield, who, sitting close to him, was first to grasp the 
full extent of the minister's distress, "I want to go home. Brother 
Manning, will you dismiss the people?" 

Dr. N. W. Currie and Mrs. Herring, both of whom were sit- 
ting in the gallery, hurried to the study as tender hands lifted 
the stalwart but now limp frame of the pastor into the room 
where his wife and physician awaited him, while Elder J. H. Man- 
ning, with a benediction, dismissed the congregation. 

Nine days later Dr. Herring passed away in Muhlenberg hos- 
pital and was buried, after a double funeral service, in Hillside 
cemetery, this city. 

The services in tribute to the pastor, thus suddenly taken from 
the leadership of his congregation, were held on successive days. 




27 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



On a Sunday evening a few weeks before he was stricken, the 
church was filled to capacity with the masonic fraternity of Plain- 
field and friends as a tribute to the long years as Chaplain in 
Jerusalem Lodge No. 26 F. & A. M. and also as a public testi- 
monial of their appreciation of Dr. Herring as a citizen and 
patriot. 

Dr. Herring remarked to friends after the service that it was 
the first time in many years that the full capacity of the church 
had been taken at an evening service. 

Little did the genial minister realize that within a very short 
time the same fraternity and the same friends would again fill 
the church to a point where the capacity of the edifice was to be 
exceeded to the extent even that many of every color and creed 
who sought to pay tribute to his memory had to be turned away, 
for there was a genuine feeling "that he belonged not alone to 
the sorrowing wife and sister but to the whole community." 

The Rev. R. F. Y. Pierce, Baptist minister, and a Chaplain of 
the New York Police Department, presiding over and voicing 
the people's tribute at that service, summed up the public's ap- 
praisal of Dr. Herring's character and citizenship in these words 
during his address on the subject, "I Live," before an enthralled 
audience : 

"Our brother, Dr. Herring, embraced an ideal of an ennobled 
life and wrought a glorious manhood which made him a prince 
among his fellow men. His gentleness, kindness, sympathy, 
strength of character, genial spirit, broad charity and virility of 
Christian manhood made him to be revered as one of God's 
noblemen. 

"He lived, not for himself, but with the mind of the Master, 
he sought to lift the burdens from the hearts of others, to speak 
words of cheer to those fainting and faltering on Life's weary 
way. His was the joy to wipe sorrow's tears from everflowing 
eyes; to sow the seeds of truth in hearts of age and youth; to 
lead the wanderer home ; to teach the world about Christ, and to 
be a friend of man. 

"His memory will ever be a precious legacy, not only to the 
loved ones of his heart and home, but to all who came within the 
circle of his influence." 

In strict accordance with a plan for his funeral which he 
had prepared some years before and was discovered among his 
papers after his death, the body lay in state in the church he 



28 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



loved and served well nigh three decades, lovingly guarded by 
representatives of the Session, Deacons, Trustees, officers of his 
church and Masonic brethren in the persons of: A. W. Dunning 
and A. V. Searing, Jr., until midnight; Allen E. Beals and G. F. 
Murphy until 3 o'clock; F. O. Dunning and John S. Johnston 
until 6 A.M. and George B. Wean and W. H. Abbott until 9 A.M. 
He was borne to his last mortal resting place on the beautiful 
slopes of Hillside cemetery by Alvin E. Hoagland, Isaac L. Wil- 
liamson, John H. Johnston, Dr. N. W. Currie, John G. Bicknell 
and Allen E. Beals. 

There are many today who pay to Dr. Herring the encomium 
so richly earned that his great gift to the First Presbyterian 
church of Plainfield was the deep-seated spirit of Brotherly Love 
that has embued the members of this church body over so many 
happy years. 

It was during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Herring that an 
incident occurred which resulted in enriching the church with its 
beautiful onyx baptismal font, the first two children to be bap- 
tised at which were the great-grandchildren of the Rev. Lewis 
Bond, first pastor of the church, Bessie Wright and Clarence 
Leslie Bond, children of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Eugene Bond. 

Dr. Herring was invited on a certain occasion to deliver a 
sermon at Crescent Avenue church. In the audience was Mr. 
Charles L. Hyde, who listened with great interest to what Dr. 
Herring had to say. After the service he made inquiry as to 
who that preacher was and, upon being told it was the Rev. Dr. 
Herring of the First Presbyterian church, he declared : 

"That is the kind of a preacher I like and we will worship in 
his church hereafter. " 

During his attendance upon public worship in Dr. Herring's 
church, Mrs. Hyde noticed that there was no suitable font for 
the baptism service, whereupon, making further inquiry, she 
arranged to present to the church the beautiful example of the 
stone cutter's art that graces the front of the auditorium to the 
left of the pulpit. 

Other notable baptisms at this font were: Irving Bond Hin- 
man, Kenneth Russell Hinman, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Grove 
Porter Hinman; Gordon Van der Vere Bond, son of Mr. and 
Mrs. Alexander Russell Bond, descendants of the first pastor of 
the church; and Harold Deforrest and Donald Deforrest Beebe, 
sons of Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Beebe, direct descendants of Pier- 



29 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



pont Potter, one of the founders of the Presbyterian church of 
Plainfield. 

On June 19, 192 1, a "Pastor Selection Committee" consist- 
ing of E. M. Cave, F. O. Dunning, Harry Williams, Dr. N. W. 
Currie, John S. Johnston, Alvin E. Hoagland, Mrs. T. C. Bo- 
dine, Mrs. Harold S. Beebe and Allen E. Beals met for organ- 
ization and by acclamation Mr. Dunning was made chairman 
and Mr. Beals secretary. 

Events seemed to amply evidence the predestination of the 
Rev. Leroy W. Warren, just returned from Europe following 
a long period of war service in this country, to be the pastor of 
this church and spiritual leader of this people. 

The Rev. L. B. Crane, of Elizabeth, hearing of the vacancy 
existing in the pulpit of our church, suggested that representa- 
tives of our congregation go to hear Mr. Warren preach in his 
church, the Westminster Presbyterian, at Elizabeth. Elders 
Charles M. Hummer, F. O. Dunning and A. V. Searing, Jr., at- 
tended accordingly. Their report to the committee on Pastor 
Selection, submitted after its organization, was so unanimously 
enthusiastic that the recommendation was approved that it enter 
the name of Mr. Warren as its first candidate, resulting in Mr. 
Warren, upon invitation, preaching two sermons before leaving 
for his customary summer sojourn in the mountains of Colorado. 

During the summer this committee personally heard fourteen 
candidates and carried on correspondence with one hundred and 
thirty-nine persons, but at its sixth meeting it reported unani- 
mously that "after impartially analyzing every one from every 
angle, there is none who stands forth anywhere near so favorably 
as does the Rev. Leroy W. Warren, of Galena, 111." 

It is a significant vindication of the judgment and wisdom of 
this committee that during the pastorate of Mr. Warren, more 
than 330 new members have been received into full communion 
of this church, a manse at 41 Sanford Avenue has been purchased, 
and the chapel has been rebuilt at a cost of $20,000, and that 
complete harmony and spiritual unity has prevailed, making the 
total membership at the time of the annual meeting on April 15, 
1925, 641, the highest total ever recorded in our church history. 

It is fitting to note in connection with the rebuilding of the 
chapel, finished in the Spring of 1925, that at a bazaar held for the 
purpose of aiding in liquidating some of the cost of the improve- 
ment made necessary by the growth of the Bible School, an en- 



30 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



graved picture of the White House at Washington, autographed 
by Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, wife of the President of the United 
States, was sent by her to the Guild for sale. 

The Elders of our church from its organization down to the 
annual meeting of 1925 follow: 



1825 Robert Anderson 
1825 John Layton 
1833 Jarvis B. Ayres 
1841 Lucas V. Hoagland 
1845 Abijah Titus 
1845 Andrew A. Cadmus 
1847 Ephraim Coriell 
1847 Job Squier 
1850 Tunison T. Soper 
1856 Peter J. Smith 
1858 E. Dean Dow 
1858 Ellis Potter 
1858 Frazee Cole 
1858 David J. Gordon 
1858 Edmund V. Shotwell 
1864 Peter Hoagland 
1864 Daniel Van Winkle 
1864 Peter B. Westervelt 
1871 Samuel Milliken, Jr. 
1876 Benjamin F. McKeage 
1880 Isaac L. Miller 
1882 Henry B. Opdyke 



1886 John M. Bettman 

1889 Edward St. John 

1890 F. C. Lounsbury 
1890 A. L. Cadmus 
1892 E. M. Cave 

1892 William H. Shotwell 

1893 W. L. Ladd 

1893 R. H. Radford 

1894 Howard A. Pope 
1900 Leroy H. Gates 
1908 J. H. Manning 
1910 Charles M. Hummer 
1918 F. O. Dunning 

1918 Harry Williams 

1919 A. V. Searing, Jr. 

1920 E. D. George 
1920 F. L. Palmer 

1923 Dr. Thomas D. Blair 
1923 Dominico Di Diario 
{Italian Mission) 
1925 Arthur N. Hazeltine 



THE END 



31 



THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



Grateful acknowledgments are due and are respectfully made 
by the compiler of these records for valuable assistance and 
greatly appreciated cooperation from the following: 

Mrs. Howard A. Pope, for information. 

J. M. Bettman, for session records. 

Charles M. Hummer, for session records. 

Miss Addie Dietrich, for memoirs and suggestions. 

Joseph P. Byrnes, Principal Clerk, Register's Office, Newark, N. J., 

for search of original deed of church property and records, dating back 
to 1826. 

The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, N. J. 
Frank J. Hubbard, Civil Engineer, for map. 

J. Fred MacDonald, Assessor and formerly Executor of Mrs. Sarah 
M. Latimer's Estate, for memoirs and data. 

Plainfield Public Library and Librarians, for records. 

Miss Minerva Freeman, Dover, N. J., for historical setting. 

Mrs. Howard W. Satterfield, for historical locations and incidents. 

The Plainfield Courier-News and old newspaper files. 

Mrs. A. V. Searing, Jr., for photograph of "Church of 1855." 

A. V. Searing, Jr., for information relating to proceedings of Board 
of Trustees, etc. 

H. L. Luckey, photographs. 

Clarence E. Bond, for memoirs and records, manuscripts, etc. 

Mrs. Allen E. Beals, for information. 

Mrs. H. S. Beebe, for information. 

Mrs. Grove P. Hinman, for information. 

J. H. Coward, for information. 

History of Plainfield, by O. B. Leonard. 

History of Plainfield, by A. Van Doren Honeyman. 

History of Middlesex County, 1882, Public Library. 

Pamphlets of New Jersey, Vol. VIII. 

E. P. Morris, for information. 

S. L. Pach, for data. 

M. F. Elderton, for information. 

Thomas Butler, Inspector of Buildings, for data. 

32 



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